CREEEEEAK! The door slid open almost silently but seemed as loud as if someone had threw a grenade in the room. We snuck in attempting to be as quite as Gazelles during hunting season.
Zack sat peacefully leaning against the wall with his eyes closed like nothing ever happened.
We all let out a sigh of relief as we went back to our normal sleeping positions. Jeffrey smiled slyly at me and rested his head against the wall with his arms behind his head. I turned to Ross and smiled a 'We did it' smile, but he gave me a weak smile and nod and turned away abruptly.
I squinted in confusement, but I figured he was just glad to be safe.
I turned over on my back in between Kariann and Lynn and held the cross charm in my hands, "Thanks, Ashleigh." I kissed my hand, "I love you."
I said my prayers and went back to sleep.
"Breakfast prisoners!" Riker joked as he threw packages on top of everyone who was sleeping.
He chunked one on my face, "Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!"
"We're having egss and bacon?!" Killerman sat up excitedly with him gaming device sitting in his lap like he fell asleep playing it.
"In your dreams, little man!" Riker gave him a noogie on the top of his shaved head. Killerman punched Riker's hand away furiously.
I sat up and wiped my eyes. The bright lights stung my eyes as I squinted to read the words on the package. It was purple with white zebra stripes.
"Cinnamon roll?! No way!" Lynn cheered, "How'd you guys get this?!"
"I found them when we were in the kitchen!" Kariann sat up, looking naturally perfect and beautiful as always.
"Sweet!" Lynn opened hers and enjoyed a mouthful of the cinnamon goodness.
I grinned and opened mine and let the sweet aroma fill my nostrils with delight. My mouth was practically watering by the time I bit into the roll, "Mmmmm!" I murmured.
Everyone chuckled at me, "Guess Jordan likes it!" Riker laughed and plopped down by Lynn to eat his.
Caleb smiled over at Kariann who gave him the cold shoulder.
I held the necklace in my hand and gazed up at Ross, who wouldn't look at me and sat by himself, away from all of us.
What is he doing, I wondered.
"Kariann." Caleb set his hand on her shoulder, but she yanked it away.
"What do you want?" She was making up the sheets on her cot on the floor.
"I'm sorry I got so angry yesterday. Jeffrey told me that you were the main one who didn't want to leave my sister behind. I'm sorry for freaking out, but I mean, she was my sister!" He explained.
Kariann stood up straight and turned around, not realizing that Caleb was standing really close to her. Her hands landed on his chest, and she slowly looked up into his eyes.
He coughed and stepped back once, "Excuse me," He apologized.
"Sorry!" She said at the same time politely. They both looked down at their feet and smiled, blushing softly.
"I'm sorry too." Kariann admitted. Caleb sighed with relief and sat back against the wall and listened to her.
"It's just... Ashleigh was my friend." She fluffed her pillow, I'm just tired of losing people!" She wrapped her arms around the pillow trying to hide her sobs, "What if everyone dies?! I'd much rather die now than have to watch my friends suffer!" She sobbed.
He jumped to his feet and came up behind her. He grabbed her and spun around, "Hey!" He shook his head, "Don't talk like that!"
She wiped her running mascara, "I'm sorry..."
He shook her a little, holding her arms, "Everything is going to be ok!" He hugged her, holding her head to his chest, "I promise."
She looked up at him smiled.
"Thanks for caring about Ashleigh." He whispered, "I know she liked you alot."
A tear fell down Kariann's cheek as she hugged Caleb tighter.
"I barred all the doors. So no one's going anywhere for a while." Jeffrey handed Zack his hammer.
Zack stood with his arms crossed, stroking his chin with his fingers. Rydel stood leaning beside him with her hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks." Zack muttered, "Can you keep watch for a while?" He handed him a flashlight.
"Sure!" Jeffrey took it and stuck it in his belt.
Zack turned to Rydel and grinned. She jumped on his back, and he gave her a piggy back ride into the other part of the room.
Jeffrey rolled his eyes and went to sit in Ashleigh's fold out chair. Killerman was sitting beside the chair, still gaming away on his small device. He paused when he heard Jeffrey coming and sat in Ashleigh's chair.
"What are you doing?" Jeffrey stood in front of him with his arms crossed, "This is my chair! Zack put me on watch!"
"Doesn't mean you have to sit in this chair!" Killerman crossed his arms.
"Whatever!" Jeffrey decided to be the bigger man and turned away from him.
"Ha! Whimp!" Killerman laughed.
Jeffrey growled and clenched his before shoving Killerman off the chair and onto the floor. Jeffrey sat back in the chair, leaning against the wall with his arms behind his head.
Killerman stood up and dusted himself off. He walked over to the opposite side of the room and sat down and played his game again.
"Can I open my eyes yet?" Rydel giggled with her hands over her eyes.
"Wait! Not yet!" Zack led her to a metal cart with shelves. He took her hands off her closed eyes and led her closer towards the shelf, "Ok wait here! No peeking!" He let go of her hands and picked up an object covered with a white sheet.
Rydel giggled softly, "Can I look now?" She asked impatiently.
"Ok waaaait. Waaaait." He took her hands and squeezed them gently, "Now!"
She opened her eyes and he lifted up the white cover revealing a old record player.
"I know you love music so-!" Zack began.
She jumped up and hugged his neck, "Oh my gosh this is so cool! Where did you find it?" She leaned back and asked him.
He smiled down at her brown eyes and stroked a strand of her blonde streaks with his tan fingers, "I found it a long time ago. I thought maybe I could fix it up and we could play some music to liven up the place! At a low volume of course!" He added.
Rydel nodded, "Yeah! I'll help you!"
Zack handed her a screwdriver and winked at her.
"Whatcha doing?" Riker plopped down.
"Just doodling." Lynn covered her pad with her arm.
"Can I see?" He smiled his cute grin at her.
She smiled shyly and handed him the pad reluctantly.
He scanned through the book, flipping from page to page in admiration.
"These are..." He gasped, "unbelievable!" Riker grinned, "Lynn these are breathtaking! How did you get so good?"
She shrugged, "It just comes naturally, I guess."
Riker smiled at her, "It's amazing. You're really good!" He exclaimed.
He took the hand that she was holding a pencil in, "Could you teach me?"
She smiled and nodded.
"Hey guys check it out!" Rydel came in holding the record player.
"Woah!" Riker and Lynn jumped up and awed over the neat blast from the past.
"Awesome!" Ross laughed with joy, "This thing is epic!" He laughed like a child.
Killerman and Jeffrey seemed uninterested.
Kariann and I came over and freaked, "Amazing!"
"Does it work?!" I asked.
Zack smiled down at Rydel, "Yeah! We tuned it up a bit! Should work like a charm!"
Rydel set it on the ground and put one of the records from a small brown box beside it on the track. A fast pace 60s swing song came on. Rydel dragged Zack onto the dance floor and tried to convince him to dance with her.
"May I have this dance?" Riker asked Lynn. She awkwardly agreed as Riker taught her a few steps.
"Wanna dance?" Kariann tugged on Caleb's arm.
"I don't really know how." Caleb shrugged.
"I'll help you!" Kariann put Caleb's hand on her waist and grabbed his other hand. She grinned a beautiful perfectly white angelic smile. He felt a weird swirl in his stomach as they began dancing like crazy.
I stood by Ross, waiting for him to ask me to dance. I tapped my foot to the beat and swayed back and forth.
"It's a great song, don'tcha think?" I smiled up at Ross. I danced a little awkwardly alone, hoping he'd ask me to dance, "It almost makes me feel like dancing!" I hinted.
"Yeah that's great." Ross mumbled, rolling his eyes and walking into the other part of the room away from me.
"Ugh..." I sighed confused and crossed my arms as everyone else was dancing speedily around me.
"Come on, Zack dance with me!" Rydel twirled.
"I can't!" Zack argued.
"Come on, I'll help you!" She pleaded.
"NO!" Zack pulled away angrily. He stormed into the other part of the room where he was alone.
Rydel was frightened at his burst of anger, "He must really hate dancing..." She gazed down at her hands.
"You ok?" Ross asked her, rubbing her arm.
"Yeah..." She gave him a weak smile.
"Here I'll dance with you!" Ross took his sisters hands and spun her around wildly.
She laughed like a maniac, "Thanks, little bro! Your the best!" She leaned her head on his chest.
"Hey Jeffrey, can I talk to you for a minute?" I went over to Jeffrey and sat down beside him on the floor.
"No." He responded bitterly.
"What?" I gave a confused look.
"I'm just kidding what is it?" He asked.
"Ross is avoiding me. I think he's mad at me!" I looked over at Ross dancing with Rydel, twirling her around with his cute grin.
"Annnnnnd, I don't care." Jeffrey ignored me and closed his eyes.
"Jeffrey!" I hit his stomach and he opened his eyes and slapped my arm back.
"Hey!" I laughed unintentionally loudly. Ross gazed over at us as he was dancing, but I didn't notice.
"You like her a lot, don't you?" Rydel noticed Ross staring up at me with his big brown puppy dog eyes.
Ross had a longing expression on his face, but he shook his head at her words and focused back on them stepping back and forth, "What?"
"Jordan?" Rydel peeked over her shoulder at me, "She's cute!" Rydel smiled a long Cheshire cat grin.
"Yeah, I guess... she's alright..." Ross played it cool.
"Oh come on. We all know when you like a girl, and even though I may have been a little.... distracted lately," She glanced over in the direction Zack had stormed off to, "I can clearly see that you and Jordan have feelings for each other."
"What?!" Ross acted surprised and shocked, "No way! Psshhhh noooooo!"
Rydel narrowed her eyes and thumped him in the head with her fingers that were painted hot pink with an R5 design on them, "Come on Ross! I know you! When you guys came back from being trapped in the elevator, you couldn't stop looking at each other. When she looked away, you'd look at her, and when you looked away, she'd look at you. I can see the love in your eyes!" She laughed dramatically.
Ross didn't say anything he just watched his feet as they danced.
"So now my question is, what happened that caused us to be dancing instead of you and Jordan?" She raised an eyebrow and tapped a finger to her chin.
Ross stared glumly up at Jeffrey and I. Rydel peeked over her shoulder at us.
"What do I do?" I shook Jeffrey's shoulder, "You're a guy!"
Jeffrey laughed once, "Yeah or I've been using the wrong bathroom all these years!"
I ignored his smart comment, "You're a guy, tell me what I did wrong!"
"I'm a guy, not a psychic!"
I shook my head and caught Ross glancing over at me. I opened my mouth to say something, but he darted his eyes back to Rydel's flawless face.
I sighed and leaned my head on Jeffrey's shoulder, "What did I do?!" I fake cried as the unfitting 60s music played in the background.
"Jeffrey? Are they dating? Doesn't he have a girlfriend?" She asked Ross.
"I don't think so, but I don't know if he has a girlfriend." Ross shrugged and gazed over jealously at us, "I saw her kiss him."
"Woah on the lips?!" Rydel gasped.
"No... on the cheek, but-!" Ross began, but was cut off by his elder sister.
"Has she kissed you on the cheek?" She asked.
"Yes, but-!"
"Has she kissed him on lips before?" She interrogated.
"What? I don't know! Do you think they-?"
"Has she kissed you on the lips?"
Ross paused and stared at his feet.
"Ah ha!" Rydel chimed, "Looks to me like you have your answer Ross. Just talk to her!" She gazed over her shoulder at me staring longingly up at them, "Well, I think I'd better go check on Zack. Good luck, baby bro!" Rydel messed up his hair and walked away.
Ross walked a few steps as the song changed to a cute little tune. He came over to me and bent down, "Wanna dance?"
Finally!
I paused, pretending to be thinking for a moment as if it were a tough decision, "I guess I will." I said like it was an honor I even responded to his question.
He took my hands and pulled me close.
"Why have you been ignoring me?" I finally asked him after a few seconds of silence.
"I saw you kiss Jeffrey on the cheek..." He avoided eye contact at me, knowing he was being silly.
"What? When did I-?" I suddenly remembered and my expression changed from confusion to understanding, "Ohhh....."
"Yeah." Ross bit his bottom lip and still wouldn't look at me.
"Ross!" I hit him upside the head, "Did you honestly get mad at me for that?!"
He didn't respond.
"Ross!" I hit him again, "Me and Jeffrey are just friends and that's all we are ever going to be, whether you were in my life or not!" I looked behind my shoulder at him.
"Have you guys ever dated?" He continued.
"Well... let's not worry about that!" I quickly put my head on his chest.
"No! You did?!" He lifted my head up and made me look at him, "I don't believe it! Why didn't you tell me?!" He yelled as the music played. He walked away, but I chased after him and grabbed his hand.
"Ross! It was only for a day in fourth grade when I first met him." I laughed, "I would've told you but I didn't think it mattered about my past relationships that I don't even count because it wass elementary school. Ross," I stepped closer to him and grabbed his other hand, staring up into his eyes, "I haven't really had a serious relationship before..."
Ross looked surprised, "Really?"
I nodded, "Guys aren't exactly going out of their way to be my boyfriend." I sighed, tearing up a bit, "Guys don't really like me because I'm not "popular" and I'm sort of strange if you haven't noticed." I laughed once as a tear slid down my cheek, "But I always thought you were just perfect, and I knew if I could just have the chance to meet you-!" My voice cracked, "that you would like me and my weirdness and everything would be ok!"
Ross felt guilty and he slid his hand on my cheek.
He shook his head, "I can't see why any guy wouldn't want to date you. Jordan, you're perfect." Ross looked into my eyes and spoke sincerely.
I felt bad. I don't exactly look like America's top model when I cry, and when Ross said that I couldn't help but cry. I jumped up and wrapped my arms around his neck. I felt his arms wrap around my waist as we hugged.
He whispered into my ear, "I'm sort of glad in a way the apocalypse happened, because I got to meet you." He pulled me back so he could look at me again. I tried to maintain my composure, "I feel like I've known you forever." He linked his fingers with mine, "and I think you're the girl I've been looking for..."
I felt like I was in some sort of weird love trance as he leaned down and I stood up on my tip toes and we kissed. I flipped my left leg up in the air like they do in the movies. I wrapped my arms around his neck as we kissed.
He pulled back and smiled at me, "It's just kind of sad I had to go through the world ending to find you!" He smiled.
I laughed and sniffled.
"You don't know how long I've waited to hear you say that!" I jumped up and hugged him and he spun me around and we kissed again with the music playing in the background.
The record player needle suddenly scratched off, making a loud noise with nothing but dead air behind it.
We all paused in confusion.
BOOM! CRASH!
"AHHHHHH!"
POW! POW!
Ross and I looked at each other with worried expressions.
"GUH!"
Holes started bursting through the walls and zombies were coming in left and right. There seemed to be no escape.... the zombies were surrounding us.
I clenched to Ross and he wrapped an arm around me and pulled out his pistol from his belt.
Zack and Rydel came in with blood on their hands from killing some zombies in the other part of the room.
We all stood in a circle back to back, fighting and shooting the zombies from every corner. They just kept coming.
"What do we do? They've found us!" Riker yelled.
"Yeah, this place isn't safe anymore!" Caleb agreed, yelling over the sounds of gunshots and dying corpses.
POW! Zack shot one gross looking female corpse right in the forehead and she collapsed, "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but we need to scout out the hotel and look for a safe location."
"What are you saying?" Rydel asked him, shooting a zombie in the chest and then again in the head.
Zack paused and then looked at everyone, "We're going to have to split up."